Amazon's Jeff Bezos buys The Washington Post

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos buys The Washington Post

4. How Bezos will handle the paper

In an Atlantic Wire article, Bezos said,

“If we figure out a new golden era at The Post . . . that will be due to the ingenuity and inventiveness and experimentation of the team at The Post. I’ll be there with advice from a distance. If we solve that problem, I won’t deserve credit for it.”

Experiment

Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said,

“[Bezos] will take the company private, meaning he will not have to report quarterly earnings to shareholders or be subjected to investors’ demands for ever-rising profits.”

1. Jeff Bezos

In it for the long haul...

Running the paper as a business man

Source: http://loymachedo.com/miscellaneous-stuff/president-obama-versus-governor-romney-debate-analysis-by-loy-machedo-part-5/

Does he have a plan?

• Bezos has not mentioned any plans, but this isn’t surprising. He is a quiet guy that won’t even say how many Kindles Amazon has sold.

• Mixed signals: Bezos keeps saying he will be keeping his distance and that he doesn’t want to be too involved with the paper.

• Bezos told reporters the paper should focus on “Delivering important, compelling stories to its readers. If it does that, advertisers will come."

• Focus on writing good news stories to get advertisers to make profit…not for the readers.

Points of Discussion

Photograph: Murdo Macleod

• How he is taking away from local stuff, globalizes everything he touches. In a New York Times article, Bezos said, “It should be as easy to get a subscription to The Post as it is to buy diapers on Amazon.”

3. What the Post thinks about the change in ownership

1. Jeff Bezos biography

2. The Washington Post History

3. What The Washington Post thinks about Bezos' purchase*

4. How will Bezos handle the paper*

5. We why think Bezos will succeed with bringing the Post into a golden age (plus counterpoints)*

6. Amazon vs. The Post*

7. Running The Post as a businessman*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/jeff-bezos-and-the-posts-future/2013/09/05/ba261f7a-1676-11e3-be6e-dc6ae8a5b3a8_video.html

2. The Washington Post... a history

Your opinion?

The Post reports on itself

Good PR:

• Realistic and confident in Bezos.
• Not afraid to analyze him and also paint him as the successful businessman he is.
• The Post did not try to make it overly optimistic in order to persuade its readers.

Thoughts on privatizing the paper?

Did look into negative:

Did not just come and buy The Post – The Post sought him out.

• How Post has been declining
• Discussed Bezos successes with Amazon as well as its monopolizing effect
• Discussed Bezos’s failed investments.

Publisher Katharine Weymouth,

• Birthed in 1877 with limited circulation. Post trades hands several times before finding the Graham family

Aggressive business style will affect any journalistic ethics?

“He’s everything we were looking for — a business leader with a track record of entrepreneurship who believes in our values and cares about journalism, and someone who was willing to pay a fair price to our shareholders,” she said.

Through experimentation, will he break ethical boundaries?

• Major stories and earned the Post reputation/ family history- expansion due to key acquisitions and Watergate

End of Graham ownership to present

• Current history / financial troubles- Post becomes incorporated and sells stock to make money, Struggling since 2,000.

5. Why Bezos will succeed

• Bezos purchases the Post

• He is unpredictable, creative, and inventive.

• I have hope he will bring a different mind frame to the journalism business.

• He will be able to look outside of the inverted pyramid.

Conclusion

“If it’s hopeless – I would feel sorry for you guys – but I wouldn’t want to join you.” (From NYT)

Counterpoints

With all the Bezos is doing, will he have time for the Post?

A man not afraid to make cuts may not be afraid to break ethical boundaries.

Bezos is fearless, willing to take things to the extreme. In 1999, Amazon was going down, burdened with loss after loss. Bezos had to cut costs.

• Journalism experience
• Enemy of print
• Lobbying efforts
• Hides profits

In a New York Times article, it was stated,

From the same article,

• CEO of Amazon

James Marcus, who was Amazon employee No. 55. said, "“Jeff may be outwardly goofy, with that trademark laugh, but he’s a very tough guy. If he goes even halfway through with his much-vaunted reinvention of journalism, there is no way he’s not going to break some eggs.”

“Amazon had never indulged employees with Silicon Valley perks like massages or sushi chefs. Just about the only thing that workers received free was aspirin. So the aspirin went.”

“The cost-cutting — including layoffs — and promises of future profit helped Amazon escape the jaws of doom.”

• Blue Origin

• Will taking his digital mastermindness to the paper industry burn the industry down- Digital brilliance- ability to put consumer first

• Family

6. Amazon vs. The Post

Post owns Gazette, southern Maryland papers, Slate, etc,.

http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/archive/segment/what-jeff-bezos-will-bring-to-the-washington-post/52027b91fe3444775600006c

To the Portland Business Journal, Bezos said,

In a scholarly article by Richard J. Barber, "Within the past fifty years the United States has witnessed the disappearance, primarily through consolidation, of more than 800 daily newspapers."

Whether it was purely intentional or not, Amazon has been killing local and small businesses for years.

“We’ve had three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient,” he told the newspaper. “If you replace ‘customer’ with ‘reader,’ that approach, that point of view, can be successful at The Post, too.”

The question arises: is it ethical to purchase a paper that may lead to further consolidation of the newspaper industry.

Amazon was built as a large business venture that allowed Bezos to run experiment after experiment to find out what works. Why would he run the paper any different? This raises some ethical flags.

• Will he ignore standard journalism ethics to produce more likeable content?

• How will he treat his employees, the writers?

• Will he try to hire more freelancers and devalue the credibility of journalists?